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Average rating:
3.68
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<p>Attractive 10 MP shock-proof, water-proof and freeze-proof compact with useful 28-102mm wide angle 3x zoom. Part of the popular 'Tough' range of cameras. Now replaced by the Sylus Tough 6000 (Mju 6000). April 2009</p>
| Quick links: | Announcement | Forum |
| Announced: | Jan 22, 2008 |
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Average rating:
3.68
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Opinion: Only had this camera for a couple of days but I must admit I'm VERY impressed with it. Main reason for purchase is for my holiday in Lanzarote at the end of the month. I don't really want to be lugging my 20d and lens abroad for just a "lads" holiday. The 1030 has more bells and whistles than you could ever really need. The sort of device I'd expect to see 007 carrying around!
Thus far only taken a few quick snaps and self portraits at arms length. On my 24" monitor at 100% zoom these are pin sharp with acurate skin tones. And this is at the 5MP setting. (not got a memory card yet).
Problems: None at all.
Though the real test will be my holiday when all the shock/crush and waterproof claims will be put to the test.
Opinion: This camera has the durability of a smooth rock; it's tiny, but heavy, and build quality is off the scale. You really can throw this anywhere or dunk it in a pond without any concern (mine does now have a couple of very minor dents from being dropped). Unfortunately, it also handles rather like a smooth rock... it is hard to grip and has very few controls with no manual overrides on anything.
That said, the modes it has work well, and the shadow boost feature really helps dynamic range at low ISOs.
Image quality is uniformly soft as a 10MP, but would be excellent for a 7MP; this might be a camera to use at its 5MP setting. The exception is that the super macro mode is amazingly good, easily the best I've seen.
Noise levels are unfortunately what you'd expect, but the images don't look too nasty even at 1600 (at least until you look in the shadows). Even fancy postprocessing (e.g., noise reduction, unsharp masking) doesn't seem to be able to improve much over what the camera did.
The zoom range starting at 28mm equiv. is great. I'd love to see even a little wider (my 10-20mm Sigma zoom on my Sony A100 has spoiled me), but 28mm is a great walk-about focal length for the camera to default to -- perfect for grabbing quick shots, which this camera really can do.
The display is hard to see in bright sunlight, but otherwise quite good.
Problems: There is a lens cover that slides over the lens when the camera is powered off. When the camera has been dunked, this cover traps water inside. No harm done, but it's annoying that the lens has a few droplets on it each time the lens is opened after that until the camera dries out.
Update several months later: the black paint doesn't stick well when the camera is exposed to hot pool water -- the front of my camera looks pretty nasty with it flaking off. The problem may have started because the paint got a few minor scratches from being in a pocket with keys. Anyway, I remain impressed. I've slowly come to the conclusion that the poor handling of white balance in funny lighting is the most annoying problem -- this camera really needs a manual white setting. Still no leaks despite a fair amount of underwater and even pounding under-waterfall use, but I am careful to rinse the camera with clean water and never open either door unless the camera is completely dry.
Update years later: there is no black paint left and the camera looks like it has been through H*ll (actually just been in a pocket with keys a few times). It also is missing the little frame around the lens. No resale value, but no matter; it still works as well as when it was new! The worst annoyance is that water gets trapped behind the door over the lens, often resulting in a water spot obscuring some portion of the image when a shot is quickly grabbed (although it is easy enough to see this in the finder and remedy it if you have time); unlike the white-balance, you can't fix that in pp. Second-place annoyance would be the fact that you have to turn the mode dial 180 to go between still and video capture and third is the nobody-uses-these memory card format. I'm really impressed with this little workhorse... it's easily the most durable electronic device I've ever used.
Opinion: I owned a Stylus 720SW and I can say that the new Stylus 1030SW improves a lot on the first models. The view screen is much brighter. The 10.1Mpixels make for great pictures (taking into account that this is a consumer point and shoot)
The most obvious advantages relate to the ease with which I can carry this camera everwhere, wether skiing, boating, fishing, swimming, motorcycling and also, lend to my children without feeling that I need to give them a 5 minute speach on what not to do to not break the thing!!!
For me , this camera is simply a lot of fun!
Problems: None to date (3 weeks)
Opinion: I got this camera primarily because its waterproof and its durable. Every time I brought my Fuji F30 to the beach, sand would get stuck in the lens, and I'd have to send it back for repair. The fact that you can bring it on a shallow dive is great. Most of the stuff worth photographing with a little point and shoot is less than 10 meters deep anyway.
I just got back from a one week trip to Puerto Rico, where we used the camera every day at the beach, in the pool, snorkeling, and in the rain. If I had a non-waterproof camera, we would have had almost no pictures.
I think its a really, really great camera to have. I wouldn't want this to be my only camera... but its a really amazing little gadget that takes great pictures.
Problems: Its a little disappointing that there is no custom white balance--the canned white balances aren't that great. I also wish it had more of an f/stop range--maybe this is not possible with a small lens.
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 | 22.3 megapixels 3.2" screen Full frame sensor |
